Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa

Aston Villa battled hard before eventually losing out to Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

Blocks, last-ditch tackles and Emiliano Martínez saves were a common theme before the Reds finally found a way through after 67 minutes.

The league’s top scorer, Mohamed Salah, won a penalty after a tangle with Tyrone Mings before stepping up to score the spot kick.

Villa struggled to find their feet in attack and were unable to unpick a stout Liverpool as Steven Gerrard lost an away game for the first time as Villa head coach.

Gerrard’s return to the club for whom he made over 700 appearances stole most of the headlines in the build-up to the match, and the home fans were quick to voice their appreciation for their former captain.

The Villa head coach watched on unmoved from the sidelines as his side made a solid start to the game, with the returning Matt Targett blocking Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot in Liverpool’s first meaningful foray forward after 11 minutes.

Jurgen Klopp, who was geeing the Anfield crowd up at regular intervals, would have been celebrating the opener had Martínez not pulled off a smart reflex save to keep out Andy Robertson’s deflected near post header.

The marauding Scottish full-back was in the thick of the action again soon after, going down in the penalty area after a challenge by Marvelous Nakamba. Thankfully for Villa, referee Stuart Attwell waved away the Reds’ appeals.

The visitors had their hands full trying to contain the Premier League’s top scorers and their main man, Salah, who tested Martínez with a near post drive just before the break.

A wayward drive from Ashley Young was the best Villa had to show for their attacking exploits in the first 45 minutes, but the away supporters were content to see the sides heading back down the tunnel at 0-0.

Just minutes into the second half, Martínez was back into action when Virgil van Dijk powered a header goalwards, with the Argentine tipping it over the bar.

The Anfield crowd were becoming increasingly restless as Villa shut the door time and again before the breakthrough finally arrived after 67 minutes.

Salah drove into the box and tangled with Mings, whose challenge sent the Egyptian tumbling to the ground. The top-flight’s top scorer duly picked himself up and netted the resulting spot kick – despite Martínez guessing the right way.

Emiliano Buendia and Danny Ings were introduced as Gerrard looked to spark his side into life offensively, and the duo helped Villa enjoy their best spell of pressure in the game as the clock ticked towards 80 minutes.

Pushing forward inevitably left gaps at the back, and when Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Salah scampered forward with only Konsa as the last line of defence, the centre-back was grateful to see the Liverpool goalscorer play the ball straight at him.

Four minutes were added on after a hard-fought game, but Villa were unable to produce a late comeback as they left Anfield empty-handed.